Documentary filmmakers and producers around the world can submit their projects to the Astra Film Festival until April 1st. The festival will take place between October 10-16, 2022, in Sibiu. A selection of films from the official program will also be available online in the second half of October.

After a two-year break, AFF resumes Astra Film Junior, the audiovisual education program that gathers a great number of students from all over the country in Sibiu every year.

“We are already working at full speed for the autumn edition, which will probably have the highest density of cultural events not to be missed. We are talking about a full week in which there will always be something to see, experience and think about. We expect many festival friends of all ages to take a vacation and come to Sibiu during the most colorful season of the year,” said Dumitru Budrala, founding director of the Astra Film Festival.

The selected films will be included in one of the four competitive programs or in the non-competitive sections.

The competition sections are:

Emerging Voices of the Documentary – showcases feature-length documentaries (over 50 minutes) signed by authors at the first, second or third film;

Central & Eastern Europe – reserved for feature-length documentaries (over 50 minutes) that address issues specific to the area of ​​the ex-communist bloc;

Romania Open – includes documentary films produced or co-produced in Romania, as well as international productions or co-productions that address issues specific to Romania, regardless of their duration;

DocSchool – features documentaries produced or co-produced by film universities or institutes, or made within postgraduate film specialized programs, regardless of their duration.

The authors of the selected films will be invited to take part in the festival and attend Q&A sessions in the presence of the audience, as well as other events within the programme.

Only documentaries completed in 2021 and 2022 will be considered. Applications can be made on the festival website, and the submission fee is 15 euros for each film. There are no application fees for DocSchool and Astra Film Junior.

For more details, check out the AFF website and Facebook page.

Founded in 1993, Astra Film Festival has become one of the main documentary platforms in Romania and one of the most important in Europe. AFF is in constant search of documentaries with a strong presence of the director’s perspective, both in form and content. The festival especially appreciates the cinematic qualities, honesty, courage to approach difficult topics, originality and creativity.

Melissa Antonescu

Writer, photographer and videographer. For Films in Frame she writes news about the latest happenings in the film world and brings to the readers' attention the productions that can be seen at the cinema. When she's not writing articles, she's photographing people in a small studio or searching for new cake recipes.